Night — Silverwood Valley
Sebastian ran.
He dragged Priscilla with him, her bound body stumbling over rocks and roots, her muffled screams ignored. Behind them, the sounds of battle had faded—which meant Gabriel was dead, Elara was dead, all of them were dead.
Only one monster remained.
And it was coming.
Sebastian's heart hammered against his ribs. His breath came in ragged gasps. He was a Maxwell—one of the most powerful families in the region. He'd never run from anything in his life.
But that thing back there—that wasn't a student. Wasn't even human, maybe. Those eyes, that cold smile, the way he'd moved through Sebastian's people like they were nothing...
I have to get out, Sebastian thought desperately. I have to get to father. He'll know what to do. He'll kill this freak and his bitch both—
A hand grabbed his shoulder.
WHOOSH.
Nova stood before him, blocking the path. His blades were sheathed now, but that was worse somehow—like he didn't even need them anymore.
"Going somewhere?"
Sebastian stumbled back, dragging Priscilla with him. "Stay away! Stay the fuck away or I'll—"
"You'll what?" Nova's voice was calm, conversational, utterly without fear. "You've been threatening to kill her for ten minutes. Either do it or shut up."
Sebastian's hand tightened on Priscilla's throat. "I will! I swear to god I will!"
"Then do it." Nova took a step forward. "Go ahead. Snap her neck. See what happens."
Sebastian's hand trembled. He could feel Priscilla's pulse beneath his fingers, rapid as a bird's heart. One twist. One squeeze. It would be so easy.
But Nova kept walking toward him, and something in those mismatched eyes said do it and I'll make you wish you'd never been born.
Sebastian couldn't do it.
He just couldn't.
Nova smiled.
"That's what I thought."
Sebastian threw Priscilla aside and ran.
He didn't think about it—just did it. Let her go, turned, and fled into the darkness. Behind him, he heard her hit the ground, heard Nova's soft laugh, heard footsteps that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
"Run," Nova called after him. "Run, little Maxwell. I'll find you soon."
Sebastian ran.
Carter huddled behind a boulder, trying to make himself small.
He'd seen what happened to the others. Marcus, dead with his throat cut. Gabriel, his armor shattered, his body broken. Elara, running, then not running anymore. All of them dead, and that monster still coming.
I shouldn't have come, he thought desperately. I should have said no. Should have stayed in my room. Should have—
A shadow fell over him.
Carter looked up.
Nova stood there, looking down at him with those terrible eyes. His clothes were bloody, his left arm hung wrong, but he didn't seem to notice. Didn't seem to care.
"Please," Carter whispered. "Please, I didn't want to—Sebastian made us—"
"Where is he?"
"I don't know! He ran—I saw him run—"
"Which direction?"
Carter pointed, hand shaking.
Nova studied him for a long moment. Then he turned and walked away.
Carter let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.
He let me live, he thought. He actually let me—
SCHING.
A blade of ice sprouted from his chest.
Carter looked down at it, surprise frozen on his face, then crumpled.
Nova didn't look back.
Two more had hidden in the rocks.
Nova found them together—a boy and a girl, siblings by the look of them, huddled in a crevice with their arms wrapped around each other. When he appeared at the entrance, the girl screamed.
"Please don't!" the boy shouted, pushing his sister behind him. "Please, we'll do anything—we'll leave the academy—we'll never come back—"
Nova studied them.
Young. Scared. Stupid enough to follow a monster like Sebastian, but not evil themselves. He could feel it through Soul Perception—their terror, yes, but also their regret. They'd made a terrible choice and now they were paying for it.
"The Maxwell heir," Nova said quietly. "Where did he go?"
"I don't know!" the boy said desperately. "He ran toward the east end—there's an old waystation there, abandoned—maybe he's trying to—"
Nova turned and walked away.
The siblings stared after him, not daring to breathe.
When he disappeared into the darkness, the girl collapsed against her brother, sobbing.
"He let us live," she whispered. "He actually let us live."
"Don't move," the boy hissed. "Don't say a word. Just stay here until dawn."
They stayed.
The East End — Minutes Later
Sebastian found the waystation exactly where he remembered—a crumbling stone building half-hidden by overgrowth, its teleportation formation ancient but theoretically functional. He'd used it once as a child, during a family hunting trip.
If I can reach it, he thought desperately, if I can activate it, I can get home. Father will protect me. Father will—
He burst through the door.
The formation was still there—faded, cracked, but intact. Sebastian lunged toward it, fumbling for the activation crystal in his pocket.
His hand closed around it.
"Yes," he breathed. "Yes, yes, yes—"
"Nova."
Sebastian froze.
He turned slowly.
Nova stood in the doorway, blocking the only exit. His silhouette was outlined by moonlight, the Voidfrost Cloak hanging still around him. His mismatched eyes glowed faintly in the darkness.
"Going somewhere?"
Sebastian's hand tightened on the crystal. "Stay back! This formation leads to my family estate! My father is 4th Order—he'll kill you—he'll destroy you—"
Nova stepped inside.
"Let him try."
The Waystation — Confrontation
Sebastian stumbled backward, nearly tripping over the formation's edge. His back hit the far wall.
"Please," he whispered. "Please, I'll give you anything—money, techniques, my family's protection—just let me go—"
Nova kept walking.
"You took her."
"I didn't—I mean, we just—she was just leverage—"
"You touched her." Nova's voice was flat, emotionless. "Your hands on her throat. Your people beating her. Your plans for what you'd do after."
Sebastian's face went white. "That was—I wasn't really going to—it was just talk—"
Nova stopped three feet away.
"Look at me."
Sebastian looked.
Those eyes—one gold, one purple—seemed to bore into his soul. He felt exposed, stripped bare, every secret and fear laid out for this monster to see.
"You're going to die tonight, Sebastian Maxwell." Nova's voice was soft, almost gentle. "But first, I'm going to take from you what you tried to take from her."
Sebastian didn't understand. Not yet.
Then Nova's blade moved.
The First Cut
SCHING.
Sebastian's right arm fell to the ground.
For one frozen moment, he stared at it—the hand still clutching the activation crystal, the fingers still twitching—and didn't understand what had happened.
Then the pain hit.
He screamed.
Aahaaaaannnhh!
Blood sprayed from the stump in rhythmic spurts, painting the stone floor crimson. Sebastian clutched at the wound, trying to stop the flow, his screams echoing off the walls.
Nova watched without expression.
"That's for touching her throat."
Sebastian fell to his knees, sobbing. "Please—please—I'll do anything—"
SCHING.
His left arm joined the right on the floor.
Sebastian's screams became wordless, animal sounds. He couldn't think anymore, couldn't plan, couldn't hope. There was only pain—endless, overwhelming, consuming pain.
Aaaaa-----aaannn--ahhh!
Nova knelt before him, grabbing his hair and forcing his head up.
"That's for the bruises."
Sebastian stared at him through tears, through agony, through the beginning of shock.
"Now for what you planned to do." Nova's blade moved lower. "The thing that makes you a man."
Sebastian's eyes went wide. "NO—PLEASE—NOT THAT—ANYTHING BUT—"
SCHLICK.
The blade drove deep.
Sebastian's scream became something else—a sound that shouldn't come from human throat. His body convulsed, blood pouring from between his legs, his ruined manhood staining his pants crimson.
Nova withdrew the blade slowly, watching Sebastian's face contort.
"There." He stood, looking down at the broken thing that had once been a Maxwell heir. "Now you understand."
Sebastian couldn't speak anymore. Couldn't move. Could only lie in a spreading pool of his own blood, his life draining away.
Nova raised his blade for the final strike—
Light exploded.
A formation—not the one on the floor, but one embedded in Sebastian's chest—flared to life with blinding intensity. Spatial energy tore through the waystation, warping reality around them.
Nova lunged forward, blade extended—
Too late.
Sebastian's body began to dissolve into light, pulled toward some distant location by the emergency teleport. His eyes—wild with agony and terror and desperate hope—fixed on Nova as he faded.
"NO!" Nova's blade swept through the space where Sebastian had been.
SCHING.
It caught something—flesh, bone—and Sebastian's remaining arm separated from his dissolving body. It fell to the floor with a wet thud as the rest of him vanished.
But Nova's other hand—the one not holding a blade—had driven forward in a final, desperate strike.
Into the space where Sebastian had been.
Into the light.
He felt his fist connect with something soft. Felt flesh tear. Heard a scream that echoed across dimensions.
Then the light vanished, and Sebastian was gone.
Nova stood alone in the waystation, breathing hard, his fists bloody.
Two arms lay on the floor. A pool of blood marked where Sebastian had lain. And somewhere in the distance, a Maxwell heir had just arrived at his family estate—missing both arms and something far more precious.
Nova looked at his hands.
Nova found Priscilla where Sebastian had thrown her.
She lay curled against a boulder, her body shaking with sobs, her bound hands useless at her sides. When she saw him approaching, she tried to crawl toward him—then stopped, seeing the blood.
"Y-you're hurt—"
"Not mine." He knelt beside her, cutting her bonds with gentle precision. "Mostly not mine."
She collapsed against him, her body wracking with sobs.
"I thought—I thought you were dead—I thought they'd killed you—"
"Shh." He held her close, one hand stroking her hair. "I'm here. I've got you."
"Sorry." Nova's voice was soft, gentle, utterly unlike the monster who'd killed a dozen people tonight. "I know what he did. He won't do it again."
She looked up at him, tear-streaked face, swollen eyes. "Did you—is he—"
"He's gone. Not dead, but..." Nova's eyes went cold. "He won't be touching anyone ever again."
Priscilla didn't ask what that meant. She didn't want to know.
She just clung to him and cried.
They left before sunrise.
Nova carried her when she couldn't walk anymore, his regeneration already healing the damage to his shoulder. The bodies remained where they'd fallen—eleven of them, scattered across the valley floor. By the time anyone found them, the beasts would have scattered the remains.
No one would know what happened here.
No one except Nova, Priscilla, and the broken thing that had once been Sebastian Maxwell.
GODLESS SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
NEW QUEST GENERATED: "THE MAXWELL STORM"
Objective: Survive the Maxwell family's retaliation
Difficulty: A-Rank
Time Limit: Unknown — They will come when ready
Rewards:
10,000 Gold Coins
Random High-Grade Defensive Artifact
Bloodline Activation +5%
Fragment Detection Upgrade: Intercontinental
Failure Penalty: Death (yours and everyone you love)
Host is advised to prepare
Academy — Class A Dormitory — Morning
Priscilla slept in his bed, wrapped in his cloak, her face peaceful for the first time in days.
Nova sat at his desk, watching her breathe.
The Moonlace seedling glowed softly on the windowsill, its silver light mixing with the dawn.